Puppets on a string

VULNERABLE

It was Monday again. I spent my whole weekend doing homework and reading books. I was feeling a little down last night after a whole day studying my eyes out. None of my so called friend contacted me. Even when I sent a text to Vicky, she didn't reply. Only Vinnie had the decency to call me and ask about my whereabouts.

When I woke up in the morning, I was feeling a little dizzy. I felt like I caught fever. As I was walking down the stairs, I saw my mom making breakfast in the kitchen. I needed a hug. When you are feeling down, you always need the comfort which only your mother can give you.

"Good morning Mum" I said hugging my mom while also kissing her cheek.

"Good morning my baby " She replied hugging me and kissing my cheek back.

"Your skin is very warm love. Did you catch a flu or fever?" She worriedly asked

"I think so. But I guess I will be fine" I replied back.

My mom hurriedly took out the thermometer from the first aid box and put it in my mouth. Your parents are the only people who love you selflessly. They are the only people who are truly worried about you.

After a minute, she took it out of my mouth and checked the temperature.

"101°F. You are not going to college today darling" She told me

"But I need to submit my worksheet today mom. I need to go."

"No sweetheart. You can submit it tomorrow. You were studying whole day yesterday. You need to focus on your health too."

" I promise I am fine mom. I promise I will take care of myself and if I feel sick, I will return back home immediately " I pleaded to my mom.

I am very serious when it comes to my studies. I never do anything that will affect my grades or my studies and my mom knows it too.

"Fine. But you will take your breakfast and lunch on time. And you will pickup my phone whenever I call you" She sighed.

"I promise. Thank you mom. Love you" I said happily and ran to my room to get ready for college.

"Easy on the stairs love" She shouted when I was running upstairs.

"Yes mom" I shouted back and ran to the bathroom to grab a shower.

After an hour, I was again walking downstairs stuffing my worksheets inside my bag and still feeling a little dizzy. God! I am late again. As I was running towards the door, otherwise I will miss the bus. But My mom shouted from behind " You need to grab your breakfast otherwise you are not stepping out of this house today"

"But I am already late for my class mom. I will miss the bus" I replied back

"Your brother will drop you. Won't you Andrew" My mom said looking at my sleepy brother who just woke up a minute ago

"Why do I need to drop this little cat to college. She can go on her own. She is not a kid" he said without glancing at me. Well I forgot to tell you, my nickname is 'little cat' and 'meow baby'. My father and brothers love to call me this. My grandfather gave me the nickname 'little cat' while Adrianna is 'big cat'.

"She has fever Andrew" My mom sighed

"Fine. Have your breakfast. I will drop you" He replied giving me a 'I don't care' look but his eyes gave away his worried thoughts. He doesn't show but he loves me too much. I am the only girl child of my parents and also Daddy's little princess. You can say that I am the spoiled brat of my family.

"Thank you Andy. Love you too" I Said teasingly to him

He frowned funnily when I said I love you. He hates it when I show any kind of affection to him. Sisters love to tease their brothers and vice versa.

I was in front of my class 15 minutes later. My home is very near to the college. It usually takes 20 minutes walk but when my brother is dropping me off, I reach there in 5 minutes.

As I entered the class, professor was already inside the classroom. He gave me a disapproving look while I gave him an awkward smile and took my seat next to Vinnie.

"Why are you late today " Vinnie asked

"I woke up late" I said.

I didn't want to tell her about my fever otherwise she will be worried. I submitted my worksheet and went to my phyiscs class. As I sat on my usual seat, Vicky came and sat next to me. We shared our mutual hellos and discussed about the upcoming chemistry test which we have next week. Soon a voice interrupted us.

''Hi Vicky, Hi Ash'' It was Vincent. He came and sat on the empty seat on the other side of Vicky.

" Hi Vin" Vicky and I said at the same time.

"So, how was your weekend Vicky" Vin asked her and soon they both were involved in their own talk as if I was not sitting there.

I shrugged and continued studying my previous notes. Soon, the class started.

In between the class, I started feeling dizzy again and felt a lump in my stomach. Sh*t! Not now. I stood up and ran out of the classroom towards the bathroom without looking back. As soon as I was inside the bathroom, I puked my guts out in toilet seat. Thank God I reached there on time. I was feeling like I would faint any second. I cleaned my mouth and went back towards the classroom. Lecture was already over when I reached there. I grabbed my bag and decided to go back home. I don't think I will be able to survive another minute here. Nobody came after me and asked me what happened. And they call themselves my friend. I quickly grabbed a taxi and went home. As soon as I opened my front door, my mom looked at me and understood that my condition has gotten worse.

'Welcome home sweetie. You don't look well. Are you okay?" She asked worriedly.

"I feel like a truck has stuck me and I puked my whole breakfast out during lecture. Other than that I am okay" I said.

She again took out a thermometer and checked my temperature.

"102.4°F. I am taking you to hospital now" She said and ran to grab her purse.

She called my brother and asked him to drive us to hospital.

30 minutes later, I again had a thermometer inside my mouth with a nurse and my worried mom hovering over my head.

"She only has a fever. Nothing to worry about. Just give her these medicines, and she will be fine in two days" Doctor said to my mom.

Later in the evening I received a text from Vinnie asking where I was during lunchbreak as I didn't pick up her call. I told her that I have a fever and went to doctor but forgot my phone at home. She told me to get well soon.

Next day when I didn't go to college, I received texts from most of my so called friends telling me to get well soon including Vincent. So, he suddenly decided that he cares about me. Huh!. In the evening, Vinnie, Jennie, Vicky and Sophie even came to my home to ask about my health after college. I thought that maybe they care for me.

It's been three days since I got fever but my temperature is not going down. My friends have been texting me and calling me frequently to ask questions about my health and updated me on other college work. I feel like my condition is getting worse.

Today my temperature was 104°F which made my family too much worried because I never get sick. My mom was putting cold wet cloth on my head since last hour to get my temperature down which is not working. As I stood up to go to the washroom, I felt something wet running down my nose. When I looked down, I saw my room floor covered in some droplets of blood with more joining them sooner. I didn't get worried as I have a problem of bleeding nose since birth. Whenever I feel hot, my nose starts bleeding. I am kind of habitual of it. But then I suddenly coughed and when I looked at my hand, it was covered in blood. F*ck! I am coughing blood and that made me worried and I slowly started blacking out. Call it a mother instinct, at that very moment my mom came to the room to give me medicine. She looked at me and screamed running to me. She screwed for my brothers for help as my father was at work. My brothers came running to my room and saw me coughing blood with more blood running down my nose. The car was at service today. So, my older brother quickly picked me up and took me to the motorcycle. Andrew was driving while I was sitting behind him with my 14 year old brother Sandy sitting behind me holding me so I won't fall. It would have looked funny to other people but only my family knew the tension we were having. As soon as we reached the hospital, the hospital took me to checkup room immediately. My father also came running to hospital because my mother called him. Finally a doctor came and ran some tests. He said that there is a blockage in one of my veins near pharynx and I need to undergo a surgery. I started crying there because I am very scared of operations and surgeries.

"Dad, I don't want to go undergo any surgery. Please ask the doctor to give me medicine. I also have my test next week. I will eat every bitter medicine without any complaint. I promise I will never eat junk food, but please ask the doctor to give me some alternate options" I begged to my father crying

My father laughed looking at me as I was behaving like a 5 year old.

"Is there any other option instead of surgery. She has her test coming up sooner, maybe

some medicines will do work?" My dad asked. God I love him so much.

"Well we can give her some medicines to stop the bleeding for now. But She will need a surgery later" Doctor replied

"Okay then, give her some medicines for now. We can postpone the surgery" My father said to doctor

Soon, the doctor gave me an injection and some medicines and finally the bleeding stopped. I was taken back to home a few hours later.

Next morning, I received a call from Vinnie asking about my health and I narrated the whole nose bleeding scenario to her but made her promise to not tell anyone.

Later in the evening, all of my friends came to my home including Vincent. Everyone has a little idea about my little crush on Vincent and they even say that he also has a crush on me. Sophie and Jennie teases both of us alot but we always ignore it. Vincent even brought a chocolate for me. But I know that he is into Vicky. People around us don't see it but I have been in these kind of situations before, I know when a guy is interested in me or in one of my friends. Vicky also teases me with Vincent's name. She says that she ships us. She also told me that Samuel was asking about me in college. She said that Samuel was really worried after knowing that I was sick. Samuel and I never shared our contact numbers, so there was no way that he would have contacted me. Well, he could have asked Vicky for my contact number if he was so worried. I told her to tell him that I am okay and I will be back to college in few days. I smiled a little knowing that Samuel asked about me. After getting over my little crush on Vincent, I have been crushing on Samuel. But my friends don't really like him. Vinnie says that he is a good friend but she doesn't think that he will be a good boyfriend too. I don't know why she thinks that.

It has only been 24 hours since my little nose bleeding episode and I am feeling much better. I don't have fever anymore and I am also not puking everything I eat. I guess I will be fine and can go to college on Monday.

Whole weekend I took my rest and gained all my energy back. I also studied chemistry for my test on Monday.

Finally it's Monday and I am absolutely healthy. At last I get to go out after a week of bed rest. WORLD! HERE I COME.